The Normal Christian Church Life: The New Testament Pattern of the Churches, the Ministry, and the Work [Paperback]

However, I had an extremely hard time with his teaching that the only biblical revelation of a local church is a church that spans the entire city: In God's eyes, a local church consists of every single child of God in a geographical city. A practical local church must include all believers in Christ, and it is unbiblical to form a "church" that excludes anyone in the city whom Christ receives as His own.

It took a second careful reading of the book and some practical experience with Christians who are practicing this reality for me to see that this is exactly what the Bible teaches. What also helped was the sequel to this book, "Further Talks on the Church Life", which addresses many confusing questions such as "the church in the house/home", the biblical meaning of Christian unity, and the true biblical membership of a local church. A study of this subject is not complete without reading this companion volume (especially if the first book doesn't persuade you).

I've read quite a few of Watchman Nee's books, and I never cease to be astonished by how he manages at the same time to produce a crystal clear yet razor sharp exposition of the Bible. He seems to catch almost every detail, and he is truly gifted in making the most complex theological subjects very simple and practical.
I highly recommend this book to all the Lord's loving seekers who are sick and tired of playing church, who want to practice the reality of the Body of Christ.

Brother Nee's ministry concerning the church as set forth in this book is full of light and revelation. The church is the Body of Christ, as is made very clear in the Bible (Eph. 1:22-23), and as such there should be an organic relationship between all the members of the Body, namely, all those who have believed into Jesus Christ. If one member of a person's body rebels, the whole body is put out of function. Likewise, if a group of Christians follows one specific doctrine, and another group contends that a different doctrine is truer, more important, etc., then the Body of Christ is dismembered, because all the members of the Body are not fellowshipping in the life of Christ together.

Watchman Nee, in his exhaustive study of the Bible and a lifetime of labor in the Lord, the last twenty years of which were spent in a Chinese Communist concentration camp, was very clear that there is but one Body of Christ in the universe. The oneness of Christ's Body is what Christ Himself died to produce, not just individual sects of believers (Ephesians 4:3-6, 13-16, 25). In New Testament times, the believers in a city all met together--which is why the Epistles are always addressed to the believers in a particular locality, Corinth, Ephesus, Galatia, Philippi, etc. Paul and the other apostles never addressed their letters to the believers on a particular street, and certainly Paul was very clear that all the believers he wrote to should not be divisive in any way, and should refuse any divisive teaching.

How wonderful it would be if all Christians would see this vision, that in the church (including all the believers) there can be no Greek, no Jew, no Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, or anything else...but that Christ Himself is the life in all of us, and that He desires us to live by His life so we would be one Body to express Him and represent Him on the earth. What a testimony to the greatness of our God, that He could build countless irreconciliably different individuals into just one, glorious expression of Himself.

This is the normal Christian church life Watchman Nee is talking about: how can it be normal for the Body of Christ to be divided? How can it be normal for believers who claim the same Lord not also claim to be members of His one Body? It is normal for Christians to be in oneness! Watchman Nee is also very clear that if a teaching causes division in the Body, it must be put out. How can I claim to be a Methodist rather than a Baptist? Or denominational rather than non? There is only Body, just as there is only one Christ, and only one God. That is the only claim I make, and Christ's is the only name I take.

I highly encourage every Christian who has ever wondered what the Body of Christ is, and why there are so many different "churches" today, to read this book. May the Lord grant you a vision to see His Body, and that you are a part of it.